Record-High corn, soybean acreage tipped for 2013

Determined to make up for a crop that was adversely affected by historic drought last year, U.S. farmers intend to plant a record-high combined 174.4 million acres of corn and soybeans in 2013, according to the Prospective Plantings report released today by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

If realized, corn will represent the highest planted acreage in the United States since 1936 (102 million planted acres) and for soybeans the fourth highest acreage on record.

Corn growers intend to plant 97.3 million acres in 2013, up for the fifth consecutive year, slightly higher than last year and 6 percent higher than in 2011. Record high corn acreage is expected in Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota and Oregon. Conversely, most states in the Corn Belt which experienced severe drought in 2012 expect to plant slightly less acres to corn in 2013. The largest year-over-year decreases are expected in Illinois, Missouri and South Dakota.

Nationally, 77.1 million acres of soybeans are expected to be planted, down slightly from last year but up 3 percent from 2011. Compared with 2012, planting intentions are down across all of the Great Plains, with the exception of North Dakota. The year-over-year national decrease is only 72,000 acres.

Prospective Plantings provides the first official, survey based estimates of U.S. farmers’ 2013 planting intentions. NASS’s acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of more than 83,500 farm operators across the United States. Prospective Plantings and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

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